Please refer to Matthew 16. Jesus first established His desired method of Church governance and then He identified His first Pope.
Jesus introduced three forms of Church governance and specifically rejected two of them. He first considered the democratic (Sola Scriptura) method when He asked; "Who do the people say that I am?". He received several different answers, John the Baptist, Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." None of them right.
He then introduced and rejected an oligarchical form similar to the Pharisees or Sanhedrin when He asked His Apostles collectively; "Who do you say that I am?" They did not answer.
He then revealed His desired method, a theocracy under one chosen man as God had done since He chose Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David, and Solomon when Peter stepped forward, without consulting the other and said; "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
"Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father."
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the hell shall not prevail against it."
"I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
If you want to discuss the symbolic significance of Jesus delivering this Revelation at Caesarea Philippi let me know. It is mind blowing.
Ok, the Catholic Church is confused here.
Christ was saying that just as Peter was given the knowledge of Christ by the Father, the rest of God’s elect will be saved in that fashion. That’s what the “keys to the kingdom” mean. The KEY is God the Father revealing to us the identity of Jesus (as well as our sin).
Think about it. Christ is the head of the church. The Pope serves no purpose. Now, there are ELDERS and church leadership but the Pope is nothing more than a spiritual leader. He is not the “holy father” and certainly not more “saintly” than any of God’s children.
That said (as much as I like theological discussion) my thread jack ends here :P